Presbyopia and other visual disorders have long been treated primarily with optical lenses and other such mechanical devices. As discussed in further detail herein, it would be advantageous to provide an alternative treatment that would avoid the use of such devices and the various disadvantages that these entail.
Cholinergic agonists, such as pilocarpine, have been used to lower intraocular pressure (“TOP”) so as to treat primary open angle glaucoma. Such cholinergic agonists were a mainstay for treatments that sought to lower TOP until the introduction of timolol in 1978. In the subsequent decades, and with the introduction of topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, alpha agonists, and prostaglandin agonists, pilocarpine became prescribed less often since the newer drugs had a much lower incidence of side effects such as reduced visual acuity and ocular discomfort (Allingham et al., Shields' Textbook of Glaucoma, 5th edition, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (Philadelphia), 2005, pp. 501-503).